Sailor Emil Bengtson qualified Sweden for the Olympics, despite this he was rejected from the Olympic team. Now he is accusing the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) of breaking the International Olympic Committee's rules – and is initiating a process in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the sports arbitration court. This is reported by Dagens Nyheter.
In January this year, during the World Championship in Australia, Emil Bengtson secured a Swedish national spot in the Olympic sailing class ILCA7 (formerly Laser). But qualifying does not automatically mean you get to go to the championship – it is ultimately the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) that hands out the Olympic tickets.
And in May, the message came: Bengtson will not get to go. SOK has its own selection criteria, where the main rule is that you must have the capacity to compete for a top-twelve placement at the Olympics.
Bengtson himself thinks that the reasons for not being selected feel subjective, he tells Göteborgs-Posten.
One way for me to move forward as an athlete is to understand the reasons for not being selected, he says.
"Is just made up"
After being rejected from the Olympics, Bengtson, together with his advisors, has delved into the Olympic rules and come to the conclusion that he has the right on his side. On Wednesday, Bengtson and his representatives initiated a process in CAS, writes Dagens Nyheter.
If Bengtson has the capacity to reach a top-twelve placement or meets SOK's criteria has, according to him and his advisors, no significance. They refer, among other things, to a rule in the International Olympic Committee's statutes where it states that each international sports federation sets the rules for its sport's participation in the Olympics, including qualification criteria.
We realized that SOK's rules are just made up. They can't set up such rules, says Bengtson.
Reinebo rejects: "Is wrong"
Peter Reinebo, team leader for the Olympics in Paris, believes that what Bengtson claims is not true.
They are wrong. All countries have the opportunity to have their own rules in different matters. The Olympic charter where it says that you can't, that's not true. It doesn't say that you can't, it doesn't say that you should have special rules. What you must have is statutes and they are also controlled by the IOC, he says to Göteborgs-Posten.
That Bengtson is not selected for the Olympics, Reinebo explains as follows:
His results are unfortunately not top twelve. He has results during this period from last summer and onwards that are between 17 and 26, so it's a bit away.
